Re-anchoring Roosevelt Island’s Civic Power

“If residents aren’t at the table, we’re on the menu.”
— Frank Farance, paraphrased from three decades of RIRA meetings

Roosevelt Island Residents Association president Frank Farance does not do wistful. While others lament the slow fade of the once-mighty RIRA Common Council, Farance keeps dragging new chairs into the room and daring people to sit down. Last week he added another: a May 29 Candidate Night in the Good Shepherd Chapel, offering City-Council hopefuls Julie Menin and Collin Thompson a neighbor-to-neighbor cross-examination. It’s a small stage with big stakes—and the clearest sign yet that Farance intends to pull the Island’s civic gravity back toward its residents.

The long résumé behind the bullhorn

Frank Farance isn’t some fresh-minted activist. He has logged 22 years on the RIRA Common Council, a past presidency, and stints on virtually every committee from Planning to Public Safety. (Meet Frank Farance Candidate For Roosevelt Island Residents …) He’s the guy who photographs broken crosswalk signals at 2 a.m., files FOIL requests before breakfast, and still shows up at CERT drills with PowerPoint slides on earthquake readiness.

A ship that lost its compass

RIRA was once the Island’s unofficial parliament—so influential that local legislators courted its vote before heading to Albany. (Can Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Be Revived As …) Lately? Quorum calls echo, half the district’s apartment towers go unrepresented, and neighbors ask whether the acronym still matters. When elections were postponed during Covid and then postponed again, the common-council map looked like Swiss cheese. Farance spent last fall begging for nominees just to fill empty seats. (Nominate Your Voice: RIRA Community Elections 2024 …)

Why Frank’s reboot matters now

State law still recognizes RIRA as the Island’s designated resident body. ([PDF] 20220307_0101053.pdf – New York State Assembly) And yet RIOC—the state corporation running everything from red buses to the police desk—hasn’t held a resident-led town hall since January 14. “Since January 14th, RIOC has had nothing to say. We’re still listening.” The silence leaves a vacuum Farance is eager to occupy:

• Candidate Night (May 29, 7–8 p.m.) gives Islanders direct access to whoever will steer District 5’s $1 billion discretionary budget. No RSVP, no filter—just your questions versus their answers.
• Community-Emergency Trainings continue under his watch, distributing “go-bags” and storm-prep kits while official channels issue cheery Instagram posts.
• Public-Purpose-Fund watchdogging—the unglamorous audits that keep local nonprofits afloat—returns to the agenda this summer, after a two-year nap overseen by Farance.

Questions RIOC won’t ask—but Frank Farance will

1. Bus tracker glitches: Why are “real-time” arrivals still guessing the wrong bridge traffic?
2. Main Street work orders: Who’s inspecting curb cuts now that DOT and RIOC point fingers at each other?
3. Budget transparency: How much of the 50-year anniversary spend is earmarked for one-day photo ops versus lasting amenities?

Frank Farance says he’ll raise them—all of them—before November budgets lock in. The better question: Who will stand next to him when he does?

The invitation

If you think resident power is a relic, test the theory in person:

• What: District 5 Candidate Night
• Where: Good Shepherd Chapel, 543 Main St.
• When: Thursday, May 29, 7 p.m. sharp

Bring curiosity. Bring impatience. Bring proof that Roosevelt Island hasn’t forgotten how to govern itself—because Frank Farance surely hasn’t.

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